Tell me a story...

Abby is going through a cute little phase right now where she loves hearing about when she was "a little baby." Every night after our bedtime stories and prayers she says, "Mommy, tell me stories about when me little baby." She is so sweet. Yesterday we watched a couple of the DVDs that I made from the videos of her younger days. She really liked that, but then she tried to re-enact some of it. I think she loves that she is growing up, but still wants to hang onto a little bit of baby-ness. Like after she has her bath I have to carry her like a baby and she wants to first look in the mirror and see herself, and then we have to go see Daddy. She forgets that she is almost four times as heavy as when she was a baby!

Brrrr!

It is REALLY cold today. On my way to Abigail's school this morning, the car temmp said 17 degrees! I was not looking forward to having to go out on the water in a YP (baby ship as Abby calls them) at 9 a.m. When I walked onboard the ship, they told me that they had an engineering casualty on the way over and would have to cancel. He kept apologizing, and I reassured him that it was really no problem. Little did he know I didn't want to go out in the first place.

This may seem a little random, but I think Abby already has an interest in little boys. Lord help us if she is starting this early! She has one little boy that she is really fond of in her class names Nicholas. I think I might have blogged about her interest in him before. Well, this morning when I dropped her off, she started chasing another little boy around the room trying to get a hug. His name in Connor, and he isn't shy like Nicholas. He had a ball in his hands and thought Abby was trying to get that and so he kept running away. She was trying to catch him, and she was trying to catch him. As she ran by me she said, "Mommy, me want to hug him!" I don't know if it is because Nicholas hasn't been at school this week, or she has moved on. Kids are so funny!

Finally some snow.....just a little bit

Last Sunday we got a little snow- it ended up being only about 2 inches, but it was just enough for us to use our sled! Abby tried to catch some snowflakes on her tongue, but was distracted when they landed on her eyelashes!

There wasn't quite enough yet to make a snow angel, but we tried.

The snow on the hood of the car was the best for making snowballs.


It kept snowing after it got dark, and we went sledding again on Monday after school. The only bad part was that it had gotten icy overnight and we went way too fast. It was really fun, but I didn't like the feeling of being out of control, and didn't want Abby to get hurt, so we moved down to the smaller hills and had a blast. This video is from Sunday, when you could still see the grass under the snow. All of the snow has melted, so we have to wait a little while until we can play again.

The snow has arrived!!!

We are getting our first snow as I type! Abby is taking her nap, so as soon as she gets up we are going to get all bundled up (It's only 25 degrees) and go play for a little bit. Don't think it is going to be enough to use the sled down the hill, but we'll see. Check back for some fun pictures!

The new must-have for men!

I saw this online and couldn't stop laughing. The fashionistas in Milan say that it is a must have for men next fall. For some reason I can't picture Quintin walking around in leggings!

Fun last weekend

This week has been pretty busy so it has taken me a while to get this post ready. Last Sunday we went to DC again for a nice quiet morning. It was so much fun. We parked by the Capitol Building and walked all the way to the Lincoln Memorial. It looks a lot closer than it actually is, and Quintin's leg was pretty sore after we were done. Sunday mornings are nice in DC because there aren't a lot of people out yet. We saw some cute ducks in the pond in front of the Capitol, and also some of the cherry blossom trees were already blooming. I guess that is what happens when the weather is so warm. Abby had the greatest time playing with steam from a vent at the National Monument. It was a great day- we love going to DC!

One of our favorite places

Shortly after we moved here we found this great place called the Extreme Bounce Zone. They have five different moon bounce things and the parents can play too! Abby loves to go and bounce all around. It is a great way to let her burn off some energy when the weather is too bad to play outside.

First day back

Today is the first day of spring classes for me, teaching wise. I just finished my first class, and they are much different than the freshmen I taught last semester. I am teaching juniors, or Second Class Midshipmen as they are called here. Granted the course is "Naval Warfare," and it is even hard for me to be excited about that first thing in the morning, but I really like trying to get them involved and excited about the Navy. All in all it wasn't too bad. I was nervous at first....I think I am always that way. The way I think about it is if I am not nervous, then that means that I don't care anymore and then I have a problem. I get nervous because they are all new kids, I don't know how to pronounce all of their names, I want to be credible in their eyes, I want to be a good example of a junior officer, I worry about mispronouncing Yamamoto or messing up facts about the Battle of Midway, and so many other things that run through my head. Plus, I don't want to look stupid standing up there in front of 30 midshipmen. I think it went well, though. I have another class in 20 minutes and then one more on Thursday. I know that my lectures get better with repetition, so by Thursday I should be great! Or at least half-way decent. :)

Couple of Q's favorite things

Quintin has a couple of things in his life that he can't live without now. And no, I'm not talking about Abby and I! :) A while ago he got a Tassimo hot beverage machine. He doesn't drink a lot of coffee- usually only a cup a day, maybe. I don't drink it at all, but love hot tea and hot chocolate. Well, this machine makes everyone happy. It makes one serving of either coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. If you are feeling in the mood, it can also make you a latte, cappuccino or espresso. What a great machine!

Something else he loves is something that I got him to go along with his iJoy massage chair. It is called an iSqueez calf and foot massager. It is really cool, and it seems to be helping his achilles heal. Even though he is out of that big boot, it still hurts him a lot, and it is so nice for him to be able to get a nice deep massage on his legs everyday. Like physical therapy in the home....I am going to see if we can write it off this year at tax time as a medical expense! Not sure if I can, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right?

Is it Global Warming?

Not sure what is behind all of this, but today it is a beautiful 72 degrees!!! In Annapolis; in January. Although it is gorgeous, and we all are loving the nice weather, I can't wait for some snow so we can use the great sled that we bought. There is a perfect hill right behing the house. It is supposed to cool off again tomorrow- back down to a high of 54 and then even colder as the week goes on, but no snow in the forecast for the near future. Guess we'll have to wait a little longer to break in the sled.

On a streak!

Abby is on her longest ever "dry pull-up" streak. Today is her 8th day of being completely dry- during the day, at night, and even when we are out running around. We are so proud of her! We still have a little way to go with the other aspect of potty training, but everyone says that takes a little longer. I told her that if she can go "potty" in the potty, then we will take a special trip to Chuck E. Cheese's, and that seemed pretty motivating. We'll just wait and see. So here's to a new year that's soon to be diaper-free!

First haircut!

Abby will be 3 years old in April, and until today had never had her hair cut. We were waiting because it is so curly that when it is dry it shrinks up. Q also was against it for a while, until I explained to him that girls need to get their hair trimmed often to keep it healthy. Especially girls with curly hair because it helps so much to have those dead ends trimmed when you are trying to comb their hair in the morning. Detangler can only help so much! So today, we went to this cute place called Cartoon Cuts, which is a little salon especially for kids. They get to watch their favorite cartoons while they are getting their hair cut. Granted it only takes about 5 or 10 minutes, but it really helps ease the nerves. Abby did great. She was a little scared at first, and almost cried, but she was able to hold it together. I think that she was afraid that it was going to hurt, because we are always telling her to be careful with scissors- they can hurt. I told her that it doesn't hurt when you cut your hair, but she had to experience it for herself. Afterwards she was so proud of her haircut. Her hair was super-soft and she couldn't stop playing with it. She really loves her curls!

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone has a great 2007! Our celebration was low key....we didn't even stay up until midnight! Guess we are getting old. Just thought I would share some funny pictures. We were taking some family pictures in front of our Christmas tree and Abigail decided to make some funny faces. I didn't know until they were all done, but we thought they were worth sharing. What a little comedian we have!

A little bug has arrived...

Well, I have finished one paper- the short one of course. I haven't made much progress on the 12-pager because Abby picked up some kind of stomach bug on Monday. She felt a little better today, but she hasn't been sleeping very well, and that is usually when I do most of my work. Then, Quintin woke up this morning feeling sick. I guess I'd better stop typing here and get to work before the little bug makes its way to me. Hopefully everyone will feel better before Christmas.

That time of year....

Well, I have successfully completed my first semester of teaching. The only thing I have left to do is finish grading almost 100 final exams. It is taking me about 15 minutes to grade each one.....if the midshipmen hasn't gotten too many wrong. I am going to try to have them done by tomorrow afternoon, so I can enter their grades and not have to worry about it next week when I am on leave. Lucky for me I will be busy writing two papers for grad school. One shouldn't be too bad, but I just found out the other day that the 12 page paper that I have to write for my second class is 12 pages- single spaced!!! Who asks for single spaced papers anyway?! So, needless to say much of my spare time over the next few days, and sleep time for that matter, will be devoted to paper writing. Of course we will take time out to celebrate Quintin's 28th birthday this Sunday. Not sure what we are going to do yet, but I am sure we'll have fun.

Playstation 3

This past Thursday Quintin and I were able to do a little Christmas shopping for Abby while she was still at school. We went to Toys R Us first, and Quintin thought he would go over to the game section just to see if they had a Playstation 3. You'll never believe what the guy said?!? He had one left from a shipment they had received the day before. Quintin couldn't believe it. Needless to say, Christmas came a little early for him....or maybe it's his birthday present since that is this month too.

Annapolis Parade of Lights

Last night we went down to the water to watch the Annapolis Parade of Lights, which is where all of the boats parade around decorated with Christmas lights. It was really cold...about 30 degrees...but we didn't let that stop us. We got all bundled up, and luckily it wasn't too windy so we were able to stay out a good while. Abby's favorite was the one with Santa and his reindeer. She also like the "Blue Angel."

Just Cruisin'

Abigail finally likes to drive her Jeep! She has had it for a while....Quintin couldn't wait to get one for her and she used to just sit in it and "chill." A couple of weekends ago we asked her if she wanted to take it out riding and she did. We had a great time cruising around in the huge grassy area that is right behind our house. It was tons of fun to drive up the hill, and then speed down!

No Boot!

Something wonderful has happened to Quintin recently...he finally got out of the boot that he wore for nearly 9 months. He won't be able to run for another 6 to 12 month's but at least he's wearing two pairs of shoes now! Yeah!!

Little Gymnast

Abby was starting to lose interest in her dance class, so we decided to try something new....gymnastics. Her first class was all about climbing, and she had a great time. It was a 45 minute class, and unlike her dance class which lost her attention after about 30 minutes or so, she stayed interested the whole time. She liked it so much she started crying when it was time to go because she wanted to "stay and play." So, it looks like we will be going to gymnastics for now.